Carterton Community College

Carterton Community College requires significant improvement. Safeguarding standards are met, and the school has a positive pastoral culture where pupils feel safe and are well supported socially and emotionally. Behaviour has improved since September 2025, and staff feel valued by leaders who understand the school's priorities. However, pupils' achievement, attendance, and the quality of curriculum and teaching are urgent improvement areas, with examination results at key stage 4 and in the sixth form remaining low over time. The school serves a relatively high proportion of pupils with SEND and pupils from service families, and it uses nine alternative provisions, five of which are unregistered. A new headteacher took up post in September 2025, and several other leaders are relatively new to their roles.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, with an open culture where pupils feel safe.
• Pastoral support is strong and highly valued by pupils and parents.
• Behaviour has improved since September 2025 due to higher expectations.
• Incidents of poor behaviour and bullying have reduced and are dealt with quickly.
• Pupils generally act with care, consideration and respect towards each other and staff.
• Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school's context and key priorities.
• Leaders take staff workload and wellbeing into account, and staff feel valued.
• Governors now have a clear understanding of the school and have reorganised to improve accountability.
• Provision for pupils with SEND is mapped clearly and reviewed appropriately.
• Additional funding is used well to enhance experiences for disadvantaged pupils and service families.
• Sixth-form attendance has improved markedly, and current students' achievement is better.
• The sixth-form personal development programme is well designed, helping students develop a mature outlook.
• Sixth-form careers guidance is effective, with over half of students progressing to university.
• Pupils value the range of trips, clubs and activities available to them.
• Mental health provision and counselling support are available when pupils need them.

Areas for Improvement

• The school requires significant improvement and is performing less well than expected.
• Achievement requires urgent improvement, with examination results at key stage 4 and in the sixth form low and showing no signs of improvement.
• Pupils are not well prepared for their next steps when they leave school.
• Weaknesses in mathematics, reading and writing are not tackled effectively enough.
• Pupils with SEND do not make enough progress from their starting points.
• Gaps between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and others are not closing quickly enough.
• Pupils' attendance is too low, and persistent absence remains high, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.
• Leaders' analysis of attendance is not yet fully effective in identifying the root causes of absence.
• The curriculum is not designed to address important gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Support for weaker readers is not effective.
• Curriculum sequencing is inconsistent in some subjects.
• Teachers' expectations of pupils' learning are low overall.
• Teachers' checks on pupils' learning are not effective enough, and pupils are often unclear how to improve.
• Pupils with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language do not always receive the right support in lessons.
• Personal development is inconsistent, and pupils lack secure understanding of fundamental British values, cultural differences and spirituality.
• Careers education in key stages 3 and 4 is inconsistent and does not provide a full range of technical education or apprenticeship opportunities.
• The school does not fully meet the provider access legislation for Years 8 to 13.
• Some pupils go off task, and teachers do not always follow the school's agreed behaviour approach.
• Some pupils are outside of lessons when they should not be.
• Post-16 improvements are not yet reflected in students' outcomes at the end of Year 13.
• Governors have not challenged the school or held it to account robustly enough in the past.
• Leaders have not brought about enough improvement since the last inspection in curriculum, teaching and achievement.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Carterton Community College attended 90.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 22.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 2.8% of pupils at Carterton Community College were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Carterton Community College had 18.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.0% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 23.6% of pupils at Carterton Community College were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.7% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Carterton Community College received £7,778 and spent £7,505 for each of its 774 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £776,000 (-£1,002 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Carterton · Oxfordshire local authority: places and applications

What is Carterton Community College's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Carterton Community College is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Carterton Community College last inspected by Ofsted?

Carterton Community College was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Carterton Community College have?

Carterton Community College has 774 pupils on roll.

What age range does Carterton Community College cover?

Carterton Community College for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Carterton Community College's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 34.6, and 19% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Carterton Community College?

Carterton Community College is at Upavon Way, Carterton, Oxfordshire, OX18 1BU.